Option 1 is to wear it low down on my hips rather than at my waist. Preferably with a curved belt that sits higher at the waist and drops down lower at the front. It’s best if the belt isn’t a high contrast to the clothes you are wearing it over, so it doesn’t make too dominant a horizontal line.

Option 2 is to create an optical illusion, with a belt underneath a jacket (but be warned, you can’t take off the jacket without losing that lovely bit of magic. It can be a high contrast to your clothing colours. The effect of the open jacket is that it creates a very short, and thus slimming horizontal line.

As another H, you know I feel your belt-unfriendly-build pain. Especially this past year, when it's all belt this/belt that!

I am trying to find a decent hip belt after trying on a friends' gorgeous one (that formed a V in the front to boot), so thanks for the reminder.

Q for you: is there any tweak to the belt-beneath-jacket look for the high-waisted, or should I just stick to tops and dressed with empire lines and the hip belt search? I'm afraid I hate the Michelle Obama look (bless her heart).

As an "I/", I deal with this too. Other tricks that have worked for me:

1. Wear the belt a bit higher than your natural waist, where your body is slimmest. But not too close under the bust; it makes you look too "mammary".

2. A belt with an interesting buckle will draw the eye to the center of your body instead of your sides, so one is less likely to see the lack of curves.

3. On a belt with a basic buckle, you can't do idea #2. In this case, I buckle as usual then tuck the long end of the skinny belt under & behind so it forms a loop and the end hangs downward creating the same effect as #2 and drawing the eye to the center. Hope that makes sense; I couldn't find a pic of what I mean by the knotted belt.

Oh, I also size up when buying skinny belts so there's extra length to do this. Plus I think (1) an observer can get tricked into thinking your waist is smaller because you have all this extra unused length on your belt and (2)it lets me belt at the hips on low waist jeans.

Great advice! Coincidentally and by accident, all on my own, and before reading this post, I tried #2 today, and it worked very well…until I took the jacket off, that is! What gets squeezed in one place must, and does, emerge somewhere else. I'm back in the jacket now.

Ack! I don't read your blog for a few days, and look what I nearly missed! I have been wondering about this particular question for some time now – it makes perfect sense to see the examples. Thank you (again!).

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